Marco Polo - famous Italian traveler of the 13th century, with whose name begins the era of the Great geographical discoveries. He was one of the first Europeans who traveled to the east, where he spent a lot of time and collected a lot of new and interesting information for Europe at that time, laid significant trade routes. About him, and the significance of his discoveries will be discussed in my message. But first brief information from the biography.
short biography
Marco Polo born in 1254 in the city of Venice(according to other sources on the Croatian island of Korcula) in a family of merchants. His uncle (Matthew) and father (Nikolo) explored the lands from the Black Sea to the Volga, laying new trade routes. But their activities were not limited to this - after some time they went on a diplomatic mission to the Mongol Khan - Kublai, who gave them a very warm welcome. Thus, we can conclude that Marco is still inspired to travel since childhood their two closest relatives.
Travels
The young Italian went on his first trip at the age of 17 with his uncle and father, who were on a trading trip to China.
At the same time, the Polo brothers acted as delegates whose task was to establish diplomatic relations between Venice and China (which at that time was part of the Mongolian state of Yuan). It was decided to move through Jerusalem in order to purchase miraculous oil from the tomb of Christ, which they subsequently presented to Khan Kublai.
The result of a long journey (and the Polo family reached China as early as 1275) was a warm relationship with the khan, who liked Marco so much that he made him the governor of one of the Chinese cities, where our young traveler spent three whole years.
A total of Marco Polo lived in China for 17 years during which he managed to visit many regions of the empire. In 1291, the Khan decided to marry his daughter to a Persian prince and organized a huge sea expedition, which included the Polo family. On the way to Persia, the Italian traveler managed to visit South East Asia, Sumatra Island, Ceylon, Iran.
Upon arrival in Persia, the Marco family learns of the death of Khan and decides to return to Venice, which happens in 1295.
After some time in prison, namely in 1324, Marco is ransomed, and he returns to Venice, where he spends the rest of his life. Their last years the great Italian traveler spent in abundance.
Conclusion
Marco Polo had a life full of travel. Let's designate their main routes:
- Venice-Jerusalem-China. 1261-1275
- China-Southeast Asia-Ceylon-Sumatra-Persia 1291
- Persia-Venice 1295
Marco Polo travel route map:
And also in this form:
The result of the vast experience and knowledge collected during the travel period is the "Book on the Diversity of the World" - an invaluable work that helped humanity centuries later. This essay has been used both as a reference book with maps and as a fascinating story of adventure. Based on the materials of this great work, the subsequent Great geographical discoveries were made.
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Marco Polo is the most famous traveler of the Middle Ages. He described in detail all his wanderings in the "Book of Wonders of the World", which became a very important source of geographical knowledge in those days. What countries did Marco Polo visit? You will learn about this from our article.
Marco Polo: a short biography
All from the same "Book of Wonders of the World" we draw basic information about the traveler's biography. Where he was born and when he died, what countries Marco Polo visited and when his first major journey began - for the first time, the humanist Giovanni Ramusio was able to answer all these questions. In the 16th century, it was he who wrote a detailed biography of the Italian wanderer and writer.
Approximate years of the life of Marco Polo: 1254-1324. He was born in Venice or, according to other assumptions, on the island of Korcula (on the territory of modern Croatia). His fate was predetermined, since Marco's father was also a merchant, and quite famous. Therefore, the son followed in the footsteps of his parent. He went on his first trip at the age of 6. The purpose of this voyage was the city of Sudak in the Crimea.
It is also known that the merchant spent two years as a prisoner of the Genoese. It was there that a detailed report was written about which countries Marco Polo visited in his life. However, his contemporaries did not show much interest in the book.
Marco Polo was the richest of all Venetian merchants. In his declining years, the locals even called him a millionaire. The legendary traveler died in 1324. He was buried, most likely, in Venice, in the church of San Lorenzio.
Which countries did Marco Polo visit during his travels in Asia?
The great journey of the Venetian merchant began in 1271. At that time he was only 17 years old. Marco Polo set sail with his father and uncle.
Which countries did Marco Polo visit on this journey? It is not so easy to answer this question. Historians have restored the route of this journey only hypothetically. So, the Polo family went towards China through Mesopotamia, the Pamirs and Mongolia. Along the way they also visited Iran, Ceylon, India and Sumatra. Although Marco's book also mentions quite incredible toponyms: for example, Japan, the island of Madagascar and even Brazil!
In 1275 the Polo family reached the territory of China. In the same year, they reached the city of Shangdu, where the summer residence of Kublai Khan was located. Marco Polo spent almost 17 years in China. He even served at one time as governor of Yangzhou.
The family left China only in 1291. They returned to Venice large quantity gifts and treasures. Thus, the journey of Marco Polo to Asia lasted more than 20 years. During this time, he covered about 24,000 kilometers.
"Book of Wonders of the World"
This work has gone through 57 editions in its history. It was printed on nine European languages! Although it is believed that the original work was written in French.
The "Book of Wonders of the World" includes four chapters, each of which is devoted to individual countries or events:
- Central Asia and the Middle East.
- China.
- India, Japan, Ceylon, as well as the eastern coast of Africa.
- This part describes the wars of the Mongols with their northern neighbors.
The book of Marco Polo was rewritten and refined many times, completely new fragments of the text were added to it.
Was there a trip?
Many doubt: did Marco Polo actually visit the Far East? On this occasion, Frances Wood even published a book in 1995 entitled: "Did Marco Polo go to China?" In it, the researcher suggests that the merchant was not east of the Levant. After all, how could he not notice and not write in his work about such things as wooden sticks for food, or about a fanatical love for tea parties.
Earlier, back in 1966, Herbert Franke in his article suggested that the "Book of Wonders of the World" is nothing more than a plagiarism of several chapters of the now lost Arabic Encyclopedia. But on Far East, according to the German scientist, Marco Polo never hit.
But perhaps Marco Polo did visit China. Advocates of this version explain the many inconsistencies in the book with two reasons: the first is an inadequate translation, and the second is the numerous conjectures of labor scribes. In other words, the well-known principle of the "damaged phone" played its role here.
One way or another, Marco Polo forever entered the history of world geographical discoveries. The name of the traveler is an asteroid, a lunar crater, a butterfly and a bridge in China, which Marco allegedly saw during his wanderings in the East.
Conclusion
The so-called "Book of Wonders of the World", written by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo, became an important source of geographical and ethnographic knowledge in the Middle Ages. In fact, this was the first serious work that introduced Europeans to the mysterious and distant East.
Now you know which countries Marco Polo visited during his travels. These were China, the Pamirs, Tibet, Mesopotamia, Kashgaria, Ceylon, Sumatra and Iran.
POLO (Polo) Marco (c. 1254, Venice or the island of Korcula - January 8, 1324, Venice), Venetian merchant, traveler and writer.
Journey to China
Successful Venetian merchants, natives of the Dalmatian Slavs Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, Marco's father and uncle, traded with the countries of the East for many years. In 1271, they took a 17-year-old boy to their next trading enterprise, which dragged on for almost a quarter of a century. From Venice they got to Akka (Palestine), from there to the port of Ayas (the southern coast of Asia), crossed the Armenian Highlands and went down the Tigris to the port of Basra. Next, the Polos probably reached Tabriz and arrived in Ormuz via Kerman, intending to reach China by sea.
However, the ships seemed very unreliable to the merchants, and they returned to Kerman. Having traveled with a caravan along the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush, they overcame the Pamirs in 12 days and descended to the Kashgar oasis. Further, rounding the Takla-Makan desert from the south, they moved from oasis to oasis through the sands of Kumtag; From well to well, the Venetians proceeded to the valley of the Shulehe River and finally reached the Chinese city of Ganzhou (Zhangye), where they lived for a year. Perhaps it was then that Marco visited the city of Karakoram, the northernmost point of his travels. From Ganzhou, the Polos went to the city of Xining, and in 1274 Marco entered the service of the Great Mongol Khan Kublai.
Stay in China and return
For more than 15 years, the Polos lived in China, doing trade. Marko, being in the service of the khan (he spoke Mongolian and two languages of the Turkic group), repeatedly crossed Eastern China. From his stories, only two routes can be relatively accurately determined: one along the coastal strip directly to the south - to the cities of Qingsai (Hangzhou) and Zeitun (Quanzhou), the other - to eastern Tibet, Yunnan and north Indochina. Polo returned to Venice in 1295 by sea via Tabriz, accompanying, on behalf of Khubilai, a princess who had been married to the ruler of Persia.
In 1297, Marco, participating in a naval battle between Venice and its commercial neighbor Genoa, was captured. In prison, his vivid travel stories in 1298 were recorded by one of his cellmates, Rusticiano, a prisoner from Pisa. After his release in 1299, Marco returned to native city, where he lived for another 25 years as a wealthy man, undoubtedly repeating his story more than once. More than 140 lists have come down to us in a dozen languages and dialects, containing basically the same plots from the "Book of the Diversity of the World ...". Europeans got some idea of big country China, allegedly fabulously rich Japan, the islands of Java and Sumatra, about the richest Ceylon and Madagascar. Europeans first learned about paper money, sago palm, combustible "black stones" (coal) and, most importantly, about the location of spices that were worth their weight in gold. This message inspired merchants to look for ways to acquire spices, which further led to the destruction of the Arab trade monopoly and, ultimately, to the redivision of the world. For his penchant for exaggeration, fiction, Marco received the nickname "Million". It was not easy for contemporaries to figure out where Marco Polo had the truth and where the fantasy was played out.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Marco's "Book" served as one of the guides for cartographers, although he was most often mistaken in estimating distances. Its geographic nomenclature is largely repeated on many maps, including such well-known ones as the Catalan (1375) and the circular Fra Mauro (1459). Marco's book played an important role in the history of the Great Geographical Discoveries, becoming table book for outstanding cosmographers, Portuguese and Spanish navigators, including Christopher Columbus, whose hand made marginal notes 200 years later. Polo's work is one of those rare medieval works that are still read today. There are many in the book popular beliefs, legends and fairy tales.
Biographers present Marco as a very energetic, self-possessed and patient person. He had the gift of an observer, was a good but enthusiastic storyteller, quite truthful when transmitting other people's information. Marco Polo had a typical feature of the Venetians of that era - a thirst for profit, and in the last years of his life he became picky and showed stinginess towards his wife, three daughters and close relatives, which led to frequent quarrels and even litigation. Before his death, Marco freed one of his slaves and bequeathed him a large sum of money.
Marco Polo is a Venetian merchant, a famous traveler, a writer who wrote the famous "Book of the Diversity of the World", in which he told the story of his journey through Asian countries. Not all researchers agree with the reliability of the facts presented in the book, but to this day it remains one of the important sources of knowledge in history, ethnography and geography. Asian states the era of the Middle Ages.
The book was used by navigators, cartographers, explorers, writers, travelers and discoverers. She traveled with Christopher Columbus on his famous voyage to America. Marco Polo is the first European who went on a risky journey through unknown countries.
Childhood and family
Marco's birth documents have not been preserved, so information about this period of his biography is inaccurate. It is believed that he was a nobleman, belonged to the Venetian nobility, had a coat of arms. Born in 1254, on September 15, in the family of the Venetian merchant Niccolo Polo, who traded jewelry and spices. He did not know his mother, as she died in childbirth. The boy was raised by his father and aunt.
Supposed coats of arms of the Marco Polo family The homeland of the famous traveler could also be Poland and Croatia, which dispute this right, citing certain facts confirming both versions as evidence. The Poles claim that the surname Polo is of Polish origin, Croatian researchers are sure that the first evidence of the life of the famous traveler is in their land.
Whether Marco Polo was educated is not known for certain. The issue of his literacy is also controversial, since the famous book was written under dictation by a cellmate, the Pisan Rusticiano, with whom he was held prisoner in a Genoese prison. At the same time, in one of the chapters of the book it is written that during his travels he made notes in his notebook, tried to be attentive to what was happening and write down everything new and unusual that he encountered. In the future, traveling around the world, he learned several languages.
Travel and discovery
The father of the future navigator, by virtue of his profession, traveled a lot. On trips around the world, he discovered new trade routes. It was the father who instilled in his son a love of travel, talking about his wanderings and adventures. In 1271, his first journey took place, on which he went with his father. Jerusalem was his final destination.
In the same year, a new pope was chosen, who appointed the Polo family (father, brother Morfeo and son Marco) as official envoys to China, where at that time the country was ruled by the Mongol Khan. The first stop on the Mediterranean coast was the port of Layas - a place where goods were brought from Asia, where they were bought by merchants from Venice and Genoa. Further, their path passed through Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, where they visited Mosul and Baghdad.
Then travelers go to Persian Tabriz, where in those days there was a rich pearl market. In Persia, part of their escort was killed by robbers who attacked the caravan. The Polo family miraculously survived. Tormented by thirst in the hot desert, on the verge of life and death, they reached the Afghan city of Balkh and found salvation in it.
The eastern lands in which they ended up, continuing their journey, abounded in fruits and game. In Badakhshan, the next region, numerous slaves mined gems. According to one version, in these places, because of Marco's illness, they stopped for a year. Then, overcoming the prisons of the Pamirs, they went to Kashmir. Polo was surprised by the local sorcerers who influence the weather, as well as by the beauty of the local women.
After that, the Italians were the first of the Europeans to be in the Southern Tien Shan. Then the caravan headed northeast through the oases of the Takla-Makan desert. The first Chinese city on their way was Shangzhou, followed by Guangzhou and Lanzhou. Polo was greatly impressed by the local rites and customs, flora and fauna of this country. It was a great time of his amazing travels and discoveries.
The Polo family lived with Khan Kublai Khan for 15 years. Young Marco liked the khan for his independence, fearlessness and good memory. He became close to the Chinese ruler, participated in public life, adopted important decisions, helped to recruit an army, suggested using military catapults and much more.
Carrying out the most difficult diplomatic assignments, Marco visited many Chinese cities, learned the language and never ceased to be amazed at the achievements and discoveries of this people. He described all this in his book. Shortly before returning to his homeland, he was appointed ruler of the Chinese provinces of Jiangnan.
Khubilai did not want to let go of his assistant and favorite, but in 1291 he sent him and all the Polos to accompany a Mongol princess who had married a ruler from Persia. The path passed through Ceylon and Sumatra. In 1294, while still on their journey, they received news that Kublai Khan had died.
The Polos decide to return home. way through Indian Ocean was very dangerous, only a few managed to overcome it. Marco Polo returned to his homeland after 24 years of wandering in the winter of 1295.
On native land
Two years after the return, the war of Genoa and Venice begins, in which Polo also participates. He is captured and spent several months in prison. Here, according to his stories about the journey, the famous book was written.
There are 140 versions of it written in 12 languages. Despite some speculation, Europeans learned from it about paper money, coal, sago palm, places where spices are grown and much more.
Personal life
Marco's father remarried and had three more brothers. After captivity, Mark's personal life is also going well: he married a noble and wealthy Venetian Donata, bought a house, gave birth to three daughters and received the nickname Mr. Million. The townspeople consider him an eccentric liar, not trusting stories about distant wanderings. Mark lives a prosperous life, but yearns for travel, especially China.
The only joy Venetian carnivals are delivered to him, as they resemble magnificent Chinese palaces and luxurious Khan's outfits. After returning from Asia, Mark Polo lived another 25 years. At home, he is engaged in trade. The book, written in prison, made him famous during his lifetime.
Polo died in 1324 at the age of 70 in Venice. He was buried in the church of San Lorenzo, destroyed in the 19th century. His luxury house burned down in a fire at the end of the 14th century. About Mark Polo, his life and travels, many exciting films and series have been shot, causing genuine interest among our contemporaries.
- The struggle for the right to be called the birthplace of Marco Polo between Italy, Poland and Croatia.
- He wrote a book about his travels, which made him famous.
- In the last years of his life, stinginess is revealed in him, which leads him to legal proceedings with his own family.
- Marco Polo gave free rein to one of his slaves and bequeathed part of his inheritance. In this regard, many assumptions have arisen about the reasons for such generosity.
- In 1888, the Marco Polo Butterfly was named after the great traveler.
Polo Marco (1254-1344) - an Italian who traveled to South Asia.
Marco Polo came from a Venetian merchant family. His father and uncle carried on extensive trade, in particular with Persia. In 1271, when they went on a long journey, they took with them Marco, who from childhood was noted for his keen powers of observation and intelligence. For 17 years, the Marco Polo family was engaged in trade in the Celestial Empire. Marco learned languages very quickly and gained favor Chinese emperor, moreover, to such an extent that his family was given the most important assignment - to accompany the Mongol and Chinese princess to Asia, and in the spring of 1292 a flotilla of 14 ships sailed from the port. Polo had to make a great sea voyage, the first in the history of navigation, in which Europeans took part.
The path ran along the eastern and southern coasts of Asia. The phenomenal memory of Marco Polo captured the smallest details of the journey: what he saw with his own eyes, he never forgot.
Only in 1295 did the Polo family return to Venice, bringing with them great wealth.
After some time, war breaks out between Venice and Genoa. These two prosperous port city-states have long vied for dominance in Mediterranean trade. At his own expense, Marco Polo equips the ship, but in one of the battles he fails: the ship was captured, and Polo ended up in a Genoese prison. In order not to become discouraged, he begins to talk about his travels to his cellmates. His story aroused keen interest not only among the prisoners, but also among the guards, who began to carry them around the city. And now the inhabitants of Genoa begin to visit the prison in order to hear for themselves what Marco Polo tells. In the end, he comes to the idea that he needs to capture his memories on paper. Rusticiano, a cellmate, became the "chronicler". Day after day, under his pen, a work is born, which to this day is read like a fascinating novel. Polo himself never gave a name to this work. It went down in history as "The Book of Marco Polo". The draft book was completed by the end of 1298. Perhaps this played a role in the fact that Marco Polo was soon released, and, moreover, without a ransom. Returning to Venice, he continues to work on his narrative, significantly supplementing it.
It was still far from the invention of printing, but the "Book of Marco Polo" began to diverge throughout Europe, translated into many languages. Shortly before his death, Polo said: "I did not write even half of what I happened to see." But what he wrote cannot be overestimated, since the "Book" significantly expanded the horizons of Europeans, for the first time gave them information about countries that they knew only by hearsay.
One of the chapters of the book is devoted to the description of our country. "Great" he calls her. In it, Marco Polo gave a fairly reliable description of Russia.
... Marco Polo died in 1344. For the last ten years of his life he was engaged in trade and never returned to his book. He never had to learn that his geographical observations and discoveries were long ahead of their time.
In 1477, a printed edition of the Book appeared, which caught the eye of Christopher Columbus. It probably strengthened his opinion that it was possible to sail to Asia from Europe, following the course to the west. He took with him the Latin edition of the "Book" and actively used it in his travels.
